Durg, Apr 24 (PTI) Senior Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday equated the Pahalgam terror attack to the 2013 Jhiram valley Naxal attack in Bastar region of the state, saying there were no security arrangements at both these places before the deadly incidents.

Addressing a press conference in Bhilai city, he said that in the Jhiram valley attack Congress leaders were killed after being asked their names, while in Pahalgam, people were gunned down after they were asked to identify their religion.

On May 25, 2013, Maoists had attacked a convoy of Congress leaders during the party’s ‘Parivartan Rally’ in the Jhiram valley in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh, killing 29 people, including the then state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, former leader of opposition Mahendra Karma and former Union minister V C Shukla.

Baghel said the Pahalgam incident reminded him of the Jhiram valley Naxal attack.

“The attacks in Pahalgam and Jhiram valley have two similarities. In the Jhiram valley attack, Naxalites killed people after asking their names. They asked Nand Kumar Patel, Dinesh Patel (his son) and Mahendra Karma to identify themselves. In Pahalgam, terrorists also asked people’s names and their religion,” he said.

In both the incidents, there were no security arrangements in place, he said.

It has been witnessed that in such attacks, Naxalites and terrorists escape after triggering bomb blasts and opening fire but in these two incidents they waited there for hours. They knew that no security force personnel would come for their help, he said.

In Pahalgam, terrorists were confident about the security forces not coming to help people. How they got such a confidence is a big question, he asked.

“We stand with the government in whatever action it takes (after the terror attack), but they (government) should tell who is responsible for intelligence failure and negligence,” he said.

Baghel paid tributes to those killed in the Pahalgam terror attack, and said locals, including shopkeepers, helped families of victims during the incident by risking their lives.

The former CM further said, Congress party will hold a rally on Friday in the state to highlight the “failure” of the government and BJP-led Centre’s alleged conspiracy to defame the party’s national leaders and suppress their voices.

The party will also pay tributes to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack on Friday, he added. PTI COR TKP NP